


Let's Go in the Garden

by Crossover_Enthusiast



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Also this kinda goes into it right away so enjoy, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, At least comparatively, Basically Peridot got sent back in time with everything she knew up to "Change Your Mind", Constructive Criticism Welcome, Gen, Inspired by Fanart, Inspired by Fanfiction, Random & Short, So this takes place a few hundred years after the rebellion, Steven Universe: The Movie Spoilers, and she's determined to make the future even better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-11-26 19:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20935178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crossover_Enthusiast/pseuds/Crossover_Enthusiast
Summary: "You told her to stand still and justleft her there?""You say that like she wouldn't have left by now!""You underestimate how loyal a Gem can be to their Diamond," Peridot replied, the dull tone from her days as a Homeworld technician momentary returning.(Or: Peridot and Rose go reclaim something lost. Please read the notes!)





	Let's Go in the Garden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Peridawesome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peridawesome/gifts).

> The concept of this fanfic is based on Peridawsome "The Peridot Effect" fanfic and [a fancomic](https://www.instagram.com/p/B3SvUWxhVdh/) by [tripixle](https://www.instagram.com/tripixle/). Reading that comic made me wanna write a little scenario, and since The Peridot Effect hasn't gotten to this point yet, I decided to write my own little idea for it. First time I've written these three, and the first time I've seriously written something in a while, so please be gentle.

Peridot had a lot of time to think as they rode the warp to the garden.

What started as a simple conversation over how... _underdeveloped_ Amethyst was when she emerged (she couldn't even talk right!) soon spiraled into memories and a revelation that horrified the both of them.

For everything they had ever done, there was a lone Spinel waiting for an owner who would never come back.

_"You told her to stand still and just **left her there?**"_

_ "You say that like she wouldn't have left by now!" _

_ "You underestimate how loyal a Gem can be to their Diamond," Peridot replied, the dull tone from her days as a Homeworld technician momentary returning. _

And there they were, rushing through warps for a Gem who, if they were lucky, truly did end the "game" and left on her own terms ages ago.

"Shouldn't be too long now," Rose said, breaking the silence. (a small part of her wished she hadn't.)

"So how are you gonna tell her?" Peridot asked. Rose didn't speak. Peridot's brow furrowed. "Rose?"

"Spinel can't keep a secret-"

"So what?! You're just gonna walk up to her and say you shattered the Gem she spent the last fifteen hundred years waiting for?"

"And saying I forgot her to go fight in a war to _not _colonize the planet I so desperately wanted would be better?" Rose shot back. She sighed, the harsh lines in her face softening as her eyes followed the ever shifting pattern of the warp stream. "I... there's too much on the line. We're already risking everything just to get her. If she blabbed... The order I gave Pearl would've been for nothing, Bismuth would want to shatter me _more_, and Garnet - Stars, this would _break_ her."

Peridot opened her mouth to respond, but then...

** _"She lied to us!"_ **

_"SAPPHIRE, WAIT-!"_

...She wasn't wrong. (when they start building the house, Peridot was gonna vouch for making the bathroom soundproof.)

"She still deserves to know."

They all did. It was also the only way they could talk some sense into the Diamonds without getting destroyed in the process. _When_ then became the question; they obviously couldn't wait as long as her Rose had, as this time around they would have three extra Gems to deal with, and as Peridot realized, Bismuth and Lapis reacted as well as did because their relationships with Rose were badly damaged or nonexistent - forty-five hundred years was plenty of time to repair, bond and change, so there was no way to tell how they would handle it then.

And Spinel-

Peridot's thoughts were interrupted as the stream abruptly cut out, leaving her to yelp and flail before hitting the warp like a bad belly flop.

"I'm fine," she groaned, pushing herself up while swatting Rose's hand away.

"Where's Pink Diamond?", asked a voice. The two looked down, finding a confused little Gem standing exactly where Pink left her.

"She really stayed..." Rose muttered, jumping down to face Spinel while Peridot jogged down the stairs, glancing at all the dead and decaying plants that once called this place home.

"Where is she?", Spinel repeated, worry clear on her face.

"I'm sorry Spinel, but I... I shattered Pink Diamond."

"Wh-what?!", Spinel cried, stumbling back, rustling the small roots gathered around her feet.

_Guess we're doing it the hard way,_ Peridot thought bitterly as Rose tried to save face.

"I understand how you feel, but you have to-"

"How would you know?! _You shattered my best friend!_" Spinel shouted, tears welling in her eyes as her entire body shaked. Peridot blinked, swearing that the Gem's eyes flashed pink, only to be met with small, inky black pinpricks.

"...I was Pink Diamond's most loyal Quartz solider," Rose began, "by her side through the first stages of the Earth's colonization, ordering around the Gems she had no time to manage, even being confided in on a few occasions. I thought she respected what I had to say."

"When I discovered the life on the planet was so much _more_ then anything Homeworld found before, I immediately brought my findings to her, believing she would at least consider halting progress to reevaluate what the planet had to offer beyond being a Gem factory. She instead _laughed in my face _and told me to "discard these silly ideas" or she'd shatter me. She didn't even realize when I sneaked away from the guard, or recognized me when I attacked the Kindergarten."

"You have to understand," Rose implored, gently taking Spinel's hands into her own, "the Diamonds don't care about anything but maintaining their perfect empire. If they did, Pink wouldn't have left you alone like this. She had a thousand years to come back and get you, and she never did."

The tears started spilling down. "I-I...You..." Spinel croaked.

Rose continued. "I feel awful for shattering her, but I don't regret it. It was the only way to keep Homeworld from destroying the planet. And now, Earth is safe from their tyranny! It can grow as it was meant to, and Gems there can be what the Diamonds never allowed them to be! We can be _free!_ So please, Spinel," Rose ended, tears getting in her own eyes now, "please come with us and live the life Pink Diamond never let you have!"

Spinel stood, taking it in as tears continued to fall down her face. Finally, she wiped her eyes and stared Rose dead in the face. "Okay," she answered, "okay, I'll come with you. I mean, it's not like I have anything _else_ to do," she joked, gesturing towards the ruined garden with a weak laugh and crooked smile.

"Thank you," Rose said, sighing under her breath as she lead Spinel up the stairs while Peridot lagged behind. Whether she thought it up on the spot or had some speech prepared, Peridot had to admire Rose's passion and solid demeanor, even after everything. No wonder she gathered such a sizable army! But all the things she said about Pink Diamond... she wondered how Rose could so easily say that about herself.

The warp glowed and off they went, leaving the garden and never coming back.

**Author's Note:**

> The best part about having living a double life is you get to rag on yourself and no one gets concerned.
> 
> I'm giving Rose the benefit of the doubt that she genuinely A: thought Spinel would leave on her own after a while and B: forgot she was there once the war started.
> 
> Oh, and fun fact, I originally wanted to stop this after Peridot's thought, but my brain went "nope" and ended up writing way more than intended. I'm happier with this version anyway.
> 
> Also go read The Peridot Effect if you haven't already, it's a good fic


End file.
